Vessel licensing guidance
The UK Fisheries Administrations' guidance notes have been re-written into plain English. They are as follows (copies are also available from your local MFA Fisheries Office):
- UK Fisheries Administrations' guidance
Fishing vessel licensing: an introduction (PDF, 320 KB)- Appying for a fishing vessel licence (PDF, 275 KB)
- Making changes to your fishing vessel licence (PDF, 271 KB)
- Fishing vessel engine power (PDF, 261 KB)
- Changes to Fishing Vesssel Licensing Arrangements (see below) (PDF, 112 KB)
Changes to Fishing Vesssel Licensing Arrangements
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) will be making changes to fishing licensing arrangements in England and Wales in light of the recommendations made by the fifth report of the Licence Review Working Group (LRWG).
The changes will be:
- A re-opening of the special time-limited scheme to allow for the replacement or modernisation of pelagic freezer and purse seine vessels, and allow the use (in part) of licence entitlements from whitefish vessels
- Removing the single licence transfer penalty (5% of overall capacity) on all licence transactions
- Allowing more flexibility in disaggregating licence entitlements
- Increasing the validity period for a licence entitlement from 3 to 5 years
Other recommendations made by the LRWG fifth report were:
- For Fisheries Administrations to issue clear guidance on the application of effort eligibility and licensing rules (this work is ongoing); and
- To maintain the current licence categories and arrangements for scallop licensing and shellfish permits (a continuation of Business as Usual).
Full details are set out in the Annex to this announcement (see document below), and further clarification on any of the points can be obtained from the Fisheries Management and Control Team (tel, no.: 0207 270 8117) in the Marine Fisheries Agency (MFA) or from your local Fishery Office.
Some of these changes are for a time limited period only. Defra and WAG will review the impact of these recommendations and where appropriate will make changes as and if necessary, including the possible reintroduction of a licence transfer penalty.